It's a common sight at any tournament: in between points during a match, a player will turn to the ball boy or girl on the sidelines, request a towel and proceed to give their face a solid rubdown.

Some suggest it has less to do with players needing to wipe the sweat away and more to do with gaining a psychological edge on an opponent, a form of gamesmanship, perhaps, or providing a needed breather without the fear of being penalized for a time violation. Others simply think of the move as an affectation.

Some players request a towel seemingly after every point, while others take fewer turns with the wipe-down.

Former British-Canadian pro Greg Rusedski is often credited with starting the trend, which can be very ritualistic for some players.

Don't sweat it, said world No. 3 Roger Federer, who was quick to wipe away any controversy surrounding the matter.

Federer, competing in this week's Rogers Cup in Toronto, sees the towel breaks as more of a habit than a tactic.

"I needed it to calm down, you know, to not throw the racquet, or not yell," the 17-time Grand Slam champion said. "I was like, okay, go back to the towel and relax. You know, like, that was for me a thing I consciously tried to do back at the end of the '90s. That was for me — that's why I did it."

Federer, who said he began turning to the towel as a junior competing at Wimbledon, supplied further insight.

"I don't think necessarily it's about, you know, winning time all the time, but it gives you those — I guess you have right at the moment right after the point where you're like, still in the whole thing of the point being over for a few seconds, you always have the seconds that lead up to where you focus for the next point, and you have that in-between, when you have that towel or something with you. I guess it's something, for some players, like a security blanket, comforting."

Has the towel-down exercise gone too far?

"Sometimes, absolutely. And then if they do it, it just needs to be done in a timely matter," Federer said. "I don't have a problem for guys doing it, but you don't want to do it on crucial points, or to always go over the time limit. Is it being abused? At that point, I'm not so sure."